Arcade Fire Feed 7" Record to Hungry Americans

Montreal's reigning royal family of the indie rock underworld, the Arcade Fire, have released a 7" record south of the border via their label, Merge Records, and you can feel the buzz from here. It is called "Neighbourhood 7" and Pitchfork already broke this news on May 4th but I thought it warranted mention just the same because Merge have begun to promote the AF on their site and I'm curious to see what the U.S public will think of their miracle-a-minute sound. ("Angel" fans may have heard the AF when one of their songs was used on the Fox TV program)

"Neighbourhood 7" Album Cover

The A-side of the record is a song called Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) which should appear on their new LP as well. The B-side is apparently a 1940's radio broadcast of Win's maternal grandfather with his 'Alvino Rey Orchestra'. Here is what their Merge bio has to say about the B-side.

"Win Butler is the grandson of Alvino Rey, who led the Alvino Rey Orchestra with a pedal steel guitar from the 30s to the 70s. He grew up in Texas where he and his brother (Will) learned how to play music from their mother (a jazz harpist)."

Reading the press release for the AF 7-inch brought a smile to my face.

"Get these now before the buzz really starts on the Arcade Fire. You can tell all your friends next year - 'I knew them when...'"

Reading a statement like that one makes me think that the music industry is modelled upon the feeding habits of the seagull. A couple of brave birds will begin to peck at a morsel of potential food to see if it is palatable, and before long, thousands more will flock to the place to try and get their beaks in on the feast.

The Arcade Fire

I'm betting that their LP "Funeral", which is slated for a September release, will earn them a Juno awards nomination in 2005. I haven't heard any of the new songs yet since they haven't played any Montreal shows as of late, but I'm 90 percent sure that the record is going to get the mainstream music press frothing at the mouth. (Most of my friends have become AF fans after hearing their self-titled EP. One exception is my cousin Anders, but he's far too obsessed with Faith No More and Tori Amos to even give the Arcade Fire the time of day!)

Being the thieving bastard that I am, here is the tracklisting for the "Funeral" LP which I stole from Pitchfork.

01 Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
02 Neighborhood #2 (Laika)
03 Une Annee Sans Lumiere
04 Neighborhood #3 (Power Out)
05 Neighborhood #4 (7 Kettles)
06 Crown of Love
07 Wake Up
08 Haiti
09 Rebellion (Lies)
10 In the Backseat

I'll get in touch with the Arcade Fire in the fall to see if we can get a reviewer's copy of their new album for this blog; I'm sure they'll be happy to oblige. Until then, you can visit their official site for news and a couple of sample MP3's.